Ketones and alcohols have been produced from acetone through the use of various catalyst systems. German Pat. No. 2,023,512 describes an alternating catalyst layer system wherein the first layer is composed of NiO--Cr.sub.2 O.sub.3 and the second, MgO, SiO.sub.2, Cr.sub.2 O.sub.3, CuO, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 and CaO. Japanese Pat. No. 75 00,644 describes the use of a catalyst containing Cu, ZnO and CrO to produce higher ketones from EtMeCHOH. M. Vendelin et al. Chem. Prum. 26(12), 634-8 (1976) discuss the synthesis of methylisobutylketone and diisobutylketone from acetone utilizing a CuO--Cr.sub.2 O.sub.3 --BaO catalyst.
However, these procedures are not ideal in that they suffer from drawbacks such as the expense of the catalysts, cumbersome use of catalyst layers, difficulty in preparing catalysts, and poor selectivity to desired products.
More recently, methylisobutylketone has been made in Germany and Russia by a one-step process using a palladium on cation-exchange resin as the catalyst, Takaoka, S. SRI Process Economic Program-Report No. 77 (May 1972); (b) Askew, W. S., ibid. Review No. 81-1-2 (November 1981). This process also suffers from several drawbacks. It can only utilize acetone to produce methylisobutylketone, and it cannot produce methylisobutylcarbinol. An expensive palladium on cation-exchange resin catalyst is required, with a limited lifetime. In addition, this process cannot be operated above 130.degree. C., as the palladium catalyst is not thermally stable above this temperature.